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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Kenneth E. Phillipps who wrote (686432)	6/21/2005 3:30:31 PM
From: CYBERKEN	Respond to of 769670

Bush shoved a STICK up his ass. foxnews.com The recess appointment will follow-to the cheers of a nation...

To: Kenneth E. Phillipps who wrote (686432)	6/21/2005 3:32:42 PM
From: CYBERKEN	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769670

"Durban" has become synonymous with TREASON in the SENATE. That may push the cloture vote through.

To: Kenneth E. Phillipps who wrote (686432)	6/21/2005 6:12:45 PM
From: Hope Praytochange	Respond to of 769670

newsmaxstore.com

To: Kenneth E. Phillipps who wrote (686432)	6/21/2005 7:00:40 PM
From: Hope Praytochange	Respond to of 769670

abclocal.go.com

To: Kenneth E. Phillipps who wrote (686432)	6/21/2005 7:01:10 PM
From: Hope Praytochange	Respond to of 769670

Senator Durbin apologizes for Guantanamo remarks June 21, 2005 — Illinois Senator Dick Durbin today apologized for comparing the actions of American interrogators at Guantanamo Bay to Nazis, Soviet gulags and Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot. The Democrat made the apology this afternoon on the floor of the Senate His voice breaking with emotion, Durbin said he apologized to those who were offended by his words. Afterward Arizona Republican Senator John McCain said Durbin did right courageous thing, adding "he hoped the issue can be put behind us." (Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.) Last Updated: Jun 21, 2005

To: Kenneth E. Phillipps who wrote (686432)	6/21/2005 7:03:05 PM
From: Hope Praytochange	Respond to of 769670

Daley: Durbin Should Apologize For Guantanamo Comments Jun 21, 2005 3:16 pm US/Central Mayor Daley says it's time for Senator Dick Durbin to apologize for comparing U.S. soldiers to Nazis and the Guantanamo Bay prison to a Soviet gulag. Durbin's fighting words were meant for republicans, but now he's feeling the heat from a fellow democrat whose support he can't do without. “If you really believe those men and women in Guatamano Bay are Nazis, then you'd better rethink what America's all about,” Mayor Daley said. Daley's reaction was harsh, but with a son in the Army and potentially heading to war, maybe not such a surprise. Durbin, as the number two leader among senate democrats, launched his rhetorical strike last week. Durbin's remarks were calculated to rev-up dems by bashing the Bush administration's treatment of Iraqi prisoners. It may have backfired. “Well, I think it's a disgrace and he's a good friend of mine but I think it's a disgrace to say that any man or woman in the military acts like that, or that report is like that. You go and talk to some victims of the Holocaust and they will tell you horror stories and there are not horror stories like that in Guatamano Bay,” Daley said. Durbin attempted a near apology on Friday by issuing a statement on his website saying "I sincerely regret if what I said caused anyone to misunderstand my true feelings... our country's standing in the world community has been badly damaged by the prison abuses at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo." © MMV, CBS Broadcasting Inc., All Rights Reserved.

To: Kenneth E. Phillipps who wrote (686432)	6/21/2005 7:03:58 PM
From: Hope Praytochange	Respond to of 769670

Jim Muir: The many faces of Sen. Dick Durbin Will the real Dick Durbin please stand up? After spending the past week with his foot wedged firmly in his mouth about comments he made likening American troops to "Nazis," it seems Durbin can't seem to make up his mind exactly where he stands. First, he was non-apologetic, then he was apologetic, then he was defiant and finally he shifted into damage control mode and blamed his comments on - you guessed it - his political foes. During a week when the state of Illinois received yet another political black eye, let's take a look at the saga that I've titled "The Many Faces of Dick." In one of those "what-was-he-thinking" moments Durbin took to the Senate floor last week to list what he called "graphic" atrocities that had taken place at Guantanamo Bay prison. Durbin read an FBI report that showed prison cells are sometimes too hot and sometimes too cold and some detainees are shackled to the floor. Also, terrorists are sometimes blasted with rap music during interrogations. Following that revelation Durbin slowly raised his foot, inserted it in his mouth and began to chew slowly when he said: "If I read this to you and did not tell you that it was an FBI agent describing what Americans had done to prisoners in their control, you would most certainly believe this must have been done by Nazis, Soviets in their gulag, or some mad regime - Pol Pot or others - that had no concern for human beings. Sadly ... this was the action of Americans in the treatment of their prisoners." It's clear in that statement Durbin, by an extraordinary leap of the imagination, equates room temperature problems and loud rap music at Guantanamo to the Nazis extermination of six million Jews, Pol Pot's murdering two million Cambodians and Soviet gulags where three million people died. Read Durbin's words again and digest them and I think you'll agree there's no way to break those comments down and make it mean anything else; Durbin is clearly comparing American soldiers and our military at Guantanamo to the likes of Hitler, Pol Pot and Stalin. As the saying goes - it is what it is - and even a silver-tongued politician like Durbin can't twist that statement around and make it mean anything different. But, that certainly didn't stop ol' Dick from trying. After his foot-chewing act on Tuesday, Durbin spent Wednesday and Thursday defiantly saying he would not apologize. On Friday Durbin did an about-face and issued a statement saying his comments had been "misunderstood." Go back and read the statement Durbin made on the Senate floor one more time and then consider his explanation: "My statement in the Senate was critical of the policies of this administration, which add to the risk our soldiers face. I have learned from my statement that historical parallels can be misused and misunderstood. I sincerely regret if what I said caused anyone to misunderstand my true feelings. Our soldiers around the world and their families at home deserve our respect, admiration and total support." Following that sort of apology, it would've seemed Durbin would simply shut up and let the dust settle. Instead Durbin turned defiant again and said the very next day in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch he had nothing to apologize about. "If there's a lesson to be learned here it's not that my remarks were wrong or that there's any need for apology," Durbin said. "It's the fact that they have successfully twisted them out of context." Durbin went on to say the "they" he is referring to is the "right wing message machine." First, it seems by his comments Durbin is unaware the detainees at Guantanamo Bay are enemy combatants in the war on terror and, if given the opportunity, these people want me, you and Sen. Durbin dead. Secondly, it's obvious Durbin is still smarting from last November's presidential election and is letting his dislike for the Bush administration direct his thinking. Obviously, his attempt to distort what is taking place at Guantanamo is nothing more than another cheap shot at President Bush. Despite his ill-advised comments, I want to thank Sen. Durbin because he has single-handedly helped me validate a column I wrote a few weeks ago about the Democratic Party not being the same party it was in the past. Regardless of how he tries to spin it, Durbin's comments are an embarrassment to the good folks of Illinois, as well as the nation and a slap in the face to the military. He might be the senior senator from Illinois, but he does not represent my beliefs. While enduring the mindless rhetoric Durbin has subjected us to this week I was reminded in contrast of the poignant words of President John Kennedy during his 1961 inaugural speech. "Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill," Kennedy said, "that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, to assure the survival and the success of liberty." Somebody needs to clue Sen. Durbin in that the war on terror is about the survival of the liberty President Kennedy talked about and not about partisan politics at its absolute worst. JIM MUIR is a columnist for The Southern Illinoisan and can be reached at writeon1@shawneelink.net.